WaterSolve’s service of providing water treatment solutions for dewatering, particularly for industries such as Municipal Wastewater Treatment, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, and Commercial Industrial facilities, motivated us to offer the most effective solution for lagoon sludge reduction available. We partnered with WTR Solutions as an exclusive distributor for their Fine Bubble Diffusion Aerators which have proven to be highly effective and energy efficient compared to so many other aeration products in the market.
Aerators for Environmental Solutions
THE WTR SOLUTIONS AERATOR DIFFERENCE
The WTR Aerator, instead of using a compressed air/fine pore system, uses a patented process we refer to as, Fine Bubble Diffusion, to create bubbles in a partial vacuum. These small bubbles created in this process average 0.25 mm in diameter. The small size of the bubble and the low-pressure gas it holds create a small buoyancy force (The phenomenon which makes bubbles rise in a liquid). This buoyancy force is so small that it is less than the surrounding surface tension of the water. The bubbles, in fact, do not rise to the surface, but remain suspended in the fluid. This makes all of the oxygen in the bubble available to be dissolved in the liquid as needed.
THE EFFECT OF BUBBLE SIZE IN AEROBIC AERATORS
As the total surface area of a population of bubbles increases, oxygen transfer efficiency (OTE) increases. For the same volume of air, many small bubbles have a greater surface area than fewer large bubbles. Traditional compressed air diffusers, which are found in many municipal and industrial waste treatment processes, frequently produce bubbles 20 mm or greater in diameter. These bubbles have a small, combined surface area for a given volume pumped. Bubbles of this size quickly rise to the surface and are lost. They do not remain in the water long enough to transfer an appreciable amount of oxygen. And because they rise to the surface almost immediately, the potential for transfer efficiency is greatly reduced. Advances in fine-pore diffusers have led to the development of aeration systems producing bubbles averaging 3 to 4 mm in diameter. This represents the state of the art in compressed air systems, however the cost to operate them can hurt the pocketbook.
FINE BUBBLE DIFFUSION AND AEROBIC BACTERIA
It is expected that in the conventional septic tank or waste lagoon, that the organic waste contained in them is digested. This is not the case however – the organic waste builds up over time and the tanks and lagoons become nothing more than containers for sedimentation and sludge storage. The bacteria in normal septic digestion are anaerobic and are accompanied by odorous gases and groundwater contaminating pathogens.
MUNICIPAL APPLICATIONS
Fine Bubble Diffusion’s high Oxygen Transfer Efficiency (OTE) makes it much more cost-efficient than conventional forced-air or surface agitation waste treatment and much more effective.
This patented oxygen delivery technology optimizes the aerobic bacterial growth which is key to sludge and odor reduction. Biochemical action of aerobic bacteria oxidation produces carbon dioxide (The oxygen combined with the carbon) and water (the oxygen combining with the hydrogen), natural environmental elements, which makes this system environmentally sound.
CAFO (CONCENTRATED ANIMAL FEEDING OPERATIONS)
WTR Solutions’s Fine Bubble Diffusion Technology Aerators convert an average existing CAFO lagoon or waste storage tank into an aerobic waste treatment system. Dissolved oxygen breaks down existing sludge while treating incoming waste. This patented aeration system, pulls tiny air bubbles into the tank or lagoon wastewater. The oxygen from the air supports natural aerobic bacteria, which break down the sludge and odor causing elements in wastewater, converting it to odorless liquid and gases. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is the amount of oxygen taken by bacteria from water when organic matter is oxidized, or broken down. Our aerators use this natural process to break down sludge and other waste solids that build up in a waste storage system.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
The same principles that make WTR’s Fine Bubble Diffusion Technology so effective in livestock production are also applicable to large commercial users in many industrial applications. Any process which has foul odors due to an accumulation of anaerobic bacteria can be improved by the WTR Aerator. Operating costs relating to disposal of the unintended organic sludge accumulation can be greatly reduced or eliminated.
AEROBIC EFFICIENCY
By supplying enough oxygen, an aerobic condition is developed. Bacteria that obtain their energy aerobically are much more efficient. The same organic waste food supply supports a much larger bacterial flora by aerobiosis than anaerobiosis, and therefore, aerobic decomposition of organic matter is much more rapid. Aerobiosis in activated sludge is substantially complete in six to eight hours, whereas conventional septic digestion of sewage sludge requires about 60 days.
NITRIFICATION
The usual end products from anaerobic decomposition are carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide. The end products of aerobic bacteria are carbon dioxide, ammonia, water, and sulfates. The ammonia is not given off as a gas, and is nitrified by the aerobs Nitrosomonas – oxidizing the ammonia into nitrite, and Nitrobacter – oxidizing the nitrite into non-toxic nitrate. Nitrates are directly plant usable and will not harm fish. The only gas given off by aerobic bacteria is odorless carbon dioxide, thereby eliminating any offensive odor.
